- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Pima cotton - valued for its high-quality strong fibers - made a splash in California's San Joaquin Valley in the 1990s, reports Hiroko Tabuchi in the New York Times.
“It's a just-add-water kind of location,” said Robert B. Hutmacher, a cotton specialist at the University of California's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Of course, just-add-water used to be much easier to achieve.”
Durable and lustrous, Pima cotton became the fiber of choice for...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Rising cotton futures are spurring farmers to plant more cotton in California this year, according to an Associated Press report.
Commodity futures for cotton rose to $1.50 per pound in August, triple the price in 2008. Long-term cotton futures are now around $1, but extra-long-fiber Pima cotton prices are closer to $1.30.
"Those are kind of unheard of prices, and people are saying they could be conservative," Kern County farmer Jim Crettol was quoted in the story. He expanded his Pima cotton crop 60 percent to 600 acres and would plant more if he hadn't converted land to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California farmers are known for growing some of the world's finest cotton. Even though, production has been on a steady downward decline since a high of 1.3 million acres in 1979. This year, only about 200,000 acres of California cotton are being cultivated.
The drop can be attributed to a number of factors, according to an article today in AgAlert about the repercussions for the cotton ginning industry. Nearly two-thirds of the cotton gins that operated in California 10 years ago have closed.
Severe water shortages, competition from other countries, high input costs, the worldwide economic crisis are...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California's white gold, aka "King Cotton," took a significant hit in 2008. According to CDFA, cotton revenue dropped $61.5 million and 48,000 cotton acres were abandoned or went unplanted.
Cotton growers comitted to pressing on attended a recent cotton field day at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center, which was covered by freelance writer Marni Katz for Western Farm Press.
“I know you guys who have survived up to this point are the cream of the crop," the article quoted Ed Barnes, ag research director of Cotton Inc. “You really...